up from the dust
by ncfan
Summary: "Who are you and how do you know where I live?" It goes on from there. — Ryuuken, Rangiku —


**Characters**: Ryuuken, Rangiku, Isshin (mentioned), Masaki (briefly mentioned)**  
>Summary<strong>: "Who are you and how do you know where I live?" It goes on from there.**  
>Pairings<strong>: None**  
>WarningsSpoilers**: vague spoilers**  
>Timeline<strong>: post-Deicide arc**  
>Author's Note<strong>: This is a bit of a prequel to chapter 279 of _Time in Seconds_, called _Such Treatment._ As I said there, yes, I know this is the most bizarre character combination ever. I did try to make it seem somewhat plausible.**  
>Disclaimer<strong>: I don't own Bleach.

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><p>Ryuuken really doesn't expect to step out of his house one dreary, overcast early winter morning and come face to face with the blue eyes of a woman standing on his front porch.<p>

"I…" She tilts her head and frowns a little, golden hair sliding over her face. The hand that was balled up in a fist as if to knock on the door—_A Shinigami who _knocks_ first; what a novelty_—falls to her side. Then, her eyes narrow as if deciding something to herself. "Yes, I'm pretty sure this is the right place."

With a quick, cursory glance Ryuuken takes in the sight of a black shihakusho and a hilt at the woman's right hip, and even if he couldn't see her clothes he could sense the easily recognizable reiatsu the moment he saw her. He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Alright. Before this goes any further, there are two questions that I want answered. Who are you, and how do you know where I live?" His tone is such that the woman is made aware of what to expect if he catches her lying.

Her smile is so immediate that it just as immediately rings false to Ryuuken, and he narrows his eyes slightly. Overhead comes a slight roll of thunder, heralding imminent rain. "Matsumoto Rangiku, lieutenant, Tenth Division."

_No need to question what organization this woman finds herself a member of._

"As to how I found out where you lived, I just asked Urahara-san. He seems to be the go-to guy for that sort of stuff."

_Of course._ Ryuuken's lip curls; he clearly recalls asking Urahara _not_ to give out his personal information to anyone, especially not to Shinigami. He had asked so very politely the first time; the next time Ryuuken asks, which will be very soon and possibly at arrow-point (there's a _reason_ Ryuuken asked Urahara not to tell anyone where he lives), he suspects he won't be half as polite. Politeness doesn't really seem to get through to Urahara.

"How nice," Ryuuken answers shortly. He sidesteps Matsumoto and starts towards his car; he doesn't have the time of day to be dealing with a Shinigami, certainly not as this hour. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a great deal of work to be doing. Don't bother waiting for me to—"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you."

This in itself isn't enough to give Ryuuken pause. _Of course_ Matsumoto wanted to talk to him; why on Earth else would she have bothered to ask Urahara for his address and then tracked him down here at six in the morning? Really, Ryuuken doesn't care; he has work to be doing and he stopped paying a great deal of mind to Shinigami a long time ago. He doesn't have the time to waste on one of them.

It's what Matsumoto says next that really gets Ryuuken's attention.

"About Kurosaki-taicho."

That's when Ryuuken decides that he's early enough this morning that he can afford to be delayed for a few minutes.

He turns around and stares sharply at Matsumoto, who's still standing on his porch, plainly restraining the urge to put her hands on her hips. For a moment Ryuuken wonders if he should be at all wary; after all, by the standards of the organization this woman belongs to, the war was not such a long time ago, and Ryuuken's heard stories…

No. There's no need to be more cautious than usual at the moment. She's been moving stiffly, plainly uncomfortable with putting too much weight on her right side. It's not too hard to see that she's been injured recently, and even if she's no longer in acute pain discomfort is still clearly etched into Matsumoto's forehead. She poses no immediate threat.

"I'm listening." _With the understanding that what you have to say had better be important enough to hold my attention, _Ryuuken all but tacks on to the end, and Matsumoto seems to hear despite the silence of the words, because her eyes gleam as she nods.

"I…" Some bout of indecision grips her; she casts her eyes to the wooden planks as though long-rehearsed words will be found engraved into the pine.

_Miss, I really don't have all day… _Time to cut to the chase. "What has Isshin done now?" Ryuuken prompts her bluntly, folding his arms about his chest. Usually, when people want to talk to Ryuuken about Isshin it's because the idiot's gone and done something he really shouldn't have and people, for some reason, think Ryuuken will be capable of talking Isshin down or out of his stupidity where everyone else has failed. When even Masaki couldn't do it, that was where Ryuuken came in. They're usually right, but Ryuuken honestly doesn't know why everyone keeps coming to _him._

"Nothing," Matsumoto assures him; her smile gnaws at the edge of her lip too much to be natural, just like the first one was plainly false and forced. The sight rather reminds Ryuuken of Uryuu when he forces a smile, and he looks away despite himself. "I was his lieutenant, back when Kurosaki-taicho was…" her voice trails off awkwardly "…still with us, if you catch my drift."

_Back when he was still a Shinigami_, Ryuuken infers. Well, he supposes he should have known this day was coming; surely Isshin had friends and associates back in Seireitei who would have come looking for him eventually. Still, why not go looking for _Isshin_ instead of one of the people who knew him in the land of the living?

Matsumoto bites her lip. "I just wanted to know how he got…" Her face screws up in frustration "…how he got like he is now."

Ah, now _there's _a loaded question.

Ryuuken sighs and shakes his head. "I think that that's a matter you should take up—"

"Please!" Matsumoto interjects, the lines on her brow now clearly visible. "When I asked Urahara-san he said you would know. He said that you had been 'intimately involved' in the situation."

Ryuuken resists the urge to snort. 'Intimately involved'. So _that's_ how Urahara chooses to term it.

'Intimately involved'. Well, it's hardly an inaccurate label to affix to Ryuuken's involvement in the matter. That doesn't stop him from finding it offensive.

Isshin had been hurt but unsurprised when Ryuuken made it clear that he didn't support his friend's—because yes, Kurosaki Isshin and Ishida Ryuuken _are_ friends, even if they poke, prod, needle and drive each other insane—assertion that the loss of his Shinigami powers was absolutely necessary. To this day Ryuuken remains shaken by the vehemence of his own arguments. He had left in anger, slamming the door behind him and left Isshin and Urahara to talk it out. Eventually, he came back. Eventually, he helped. But he made no attempt to hide his disapproval.

"_You'll regret it. I'm telling you for you to hear it, so listen—you _will_ regret it_." And God knows Isshin has had cause to regret it over the years. Ryuuken knows full well that Isshin's still haunted by the thought that Masaki might still be alive if he hadn't done what he had, even if he won't admit it.

Back to the present. Matsumoto's ice blue eyes are open wide, unnaturally vivid in the coal gray morning, and Ryuuken shakes his head again, biting back another sigh. "I really do think," he says softly, "that this is something that you need to take up with Isshin. So why don't you go ask him?"

"Alright."

That's exactly what Ryuuken wanted to hear.

However, just as he starts toward his car again, Ryuuken hears Matsumoto speak up.

"Well, if you want me to get the story from Kurosaki-taicho, that's fine, I guess. Maybe there's something else about him we could talk about?"

_Caught_. There's no mistaking the hopeful note in Matsumoto's voice and Ryuuken grits his teeth. Of course she wants to get caught up on her former captain's antics, considering it's only been, say, _twenty-two_ years since she last heard from him, give or take a year or so. Ryuuken's a practical man; he can concede that it's natural for her to be curious, even, no, especially now, after Isshin's come out of over two decades of hiding.

And if Ryuuken's honest with himself, it would be kind of nice to rant about Isshin to someone who can process all the gory details and not look at him like he's delusional or simply insane half of the time.

Oh well. He only goes into work on Sundays for the overtime, anyway.

Ryuuken narrows his eyes and steps back up on the porch. Memories are going to have to be called up from the dust coating his mind. "Alright then. What exactly do you want to know about the constant headache over my right eye?"

"Everything."


End file.
